Makerbot launches Digitizer 3D Scanner

Replicator2X

This is not the Digitizer. But it is a Makerbot.

Anyone that has tried to use a 3D printer will know that the first thing on the list is having something to print. Makerbot already has the hugely successful 3D printed parts library (with more than just 3D printing bits it must be said) from which to select your part. From there you can of course use software tools or apps within Thingiverse to modify the part or even start your project from scratch using something like Tinkercad.

Sometimes however you already have your part and you simply want to create a copy of it or maybe make some minor tweaks. The easiest way to achieve this is in the digital space, meaning the part needs.... digitizing. There are a number of ways to achieve this already, including the CADScan 3D scanner that is on Kickstarter right now (with less than £10k left to achieve in funding), the Creaform Go!SCAN and more.

And there's another to add to that list, the Makerbot Digitizer 3D Scanner. What sets the Digitizer apart from the competition? According to the Makerbot blog the Digitizer is the first 3D scanner designed with 3D printing in mind creating watertight models in as little as three minutes.

Despite the marketing to the contrary, 3D scanning has been with us for a long time now using both laser and white light scanning to create virtual models of tangible objects - and is widely used in a professional setting.

See the full press release below for full details:

MakerBot Wants to Know: What Will You Digitize?

MakerBot Announces MakerBot Digitizer 3D Scanner Prototype at SXSW

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is the Easiest and Fastest Way to Create a 3D Design That Can Be Printed on a MakerBot

Austin, Texas, March 8, 2013 – MakerBot® surprised the world today with a major announcement at SXSW Interactive announcing development of the new MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner prototype. The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner adds to MakerBot’s 3D Ecosystem that includes MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers, the MakerBot Store, Thingiverse.com, MakerWare, MakerCare, and the apps inside Thingiverse, including the popular Customizer app. Now, with the announcement that MakerBot is developing a MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, MakerBot wants to know – what will you digitize?

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner shown at SXSW is a prototype model and MakerBot will spend time testing, scanning, and 3D printing the items scanned with it.

“We are super excited to announce at SXSW Interactive that we are developing the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner,” said Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. “It’s a natural progression for us to create a product that makes 3D printing even easier. With the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, now everyone will be able to scan a physical item, digitize it, and print it in 3D – with little or no design experience.”

MakerBot, the global leader in 3D printing, is believed to be the only company to ever announce a physical hardware product at SXSW Interactive. Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot, first announced MakerBot’s first generation 3D printer, the Cupcake CNC Desktop 3D Printer, four years ago at SXSW in Austin. MakerBot released its fourth generation desktop 3D printer last fall with the introduction of the MakerBot® Replicator® 2 Desktop 3D Printer, and its sibling this January, the MakerBot® Replicator® 2X Experimental 3D Printer, at CES 2013.

This year, Pettis delivered the Opening Remarks for SXSW and delighted SXSW Interactive attendees with the announcement that MakerBot will develop and market a companion to MakerBot’s Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer, the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner.

Pettis noted, “The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is an innovative new way to take a physical object, scan it, and create a digital file – without any design, CAD software or 3D modeling experience at all – and then print the item again and again on a MakerBot Replicator 2 or MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer.”

This exciting new technology uses lasers and cameras to replicate physical objects into a digital form and file.

“This is something you would envision being science fiction, but in fact, it is real – and it is so cool,” Pettis went on to note. “The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is a great tool for archiving, prototyping, replicating, and digitizing prototypes, models, parts, artifacts, artwork, sculptures, clay figures, jewelry, etc. If something gets broken, you can just scan it and print it again.”

MakerBot anticipates that the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner will be used mostly by those who have dreamed of being able to scan a physical object and then print it in 3D. MakerBot sees the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner being used in businesses, universities, classrooms, and in the home where anything 3D can be digitized and reproduced at will.

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is setting the standard in 3D scanning and is a new addition to MakerBot’s Ecosystem. To learn more, visit www.makerbot.com/digitizer.